How to control "elm weeds."

sharon in phoenix · Sat Jun 18, 2016 10:42 am

I have a fifty year old chinese elm that drops seeds EVERYWHERE. Every damp spot sprouts elm seedlings. If I can catch them when they are a couple of inches tall, I can pull them or spray them, but if they are deep in one of my many climbing roses, I don't know they are there until they sprout out the top at about six feet. I cut them off, but they just come right back from the root. I spray them with Roundup (they just sneer.)

I have a similar problem with the neighbor's African sumac, and the many fan palms in the neighborhood. How do I control these woody "weeds" I can't get to them to dig them out, and often they are so close to the base of my roses that I couldn't dig them out without damaging the roots of the rose. They are driving me mad! Is there anything I can paint on them that will kill them without damaging the roses? I use a pre-emergent, which helps a lot, but I still get them in my vegetable garden, where I can't use a pre-emergent, and deep under my climbers.

I love the tree....it shades my whole backyard and west side of my house. I figure it just about cuts my cooling bill in half. It is 40' tall and 60' wide, and is a truly beautiful tree. I just wish it wasn't so prolific with its seeds!

rainbowgardener · Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:47 am

It sounds like you need to mulch your rose bed better. I rarely recommend plastic or landscape fabric, but this is a situation for it. Put down the landscape fabric or heavy plastic with holes in it for drainage. Then cover it with a couple inches of wood chip mulch. That will help slow down the elm seeds from being able to root in.

sharon in phoenix · Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:10 am

I have about three inches of mulch, but no landscape fabric under the roses. Most of the climbing roses are huge...about 20 years old. Getting in under them is a real challenge. The climbing Cecile Brunner is a monster and has a determined African sumac growing right next to it's main stem that I have been trying to get out of there for years. The climbing Fourth of July has an elm growing right next to the main stem that has also been there for a number of years. I keep cutting them down, but they just come back.